Letter To The Editor: What About Circumcision?

Dear editor,

Clair McFarland’s November 17 article quoted a delegate at the Wyoming GOP state central committee meeting who brushed off a proposed “ban Sharia law” resolution by pointing out that the things people worry about, genital mutilation and bigamy, are already illegal here.

This is half right.

Female genital mutilation is rightly banned in Wyoming.

Many of the same Republicans have also fought hard (and successfully in most red states) to stop minors from receiving puberty blockers or so called “gender-affirming” surgeries, often calling those procedures child genital mutilation.

I agree with them on both counts.

Yet the single most common form of permanent, non-therapeutic genital cutting performed on Wyoming children who cannot consent remains perfectly legal and is even paid for with our tax dollars: routine infant male circumcision.

The foreskin is healthy, sensitive tissue.

Removing it carries lifelong consequences and real risks, almost never medically necessary in newborns, and is done without the child’s consent.

Those are the exact same principles, bodily integrity, consent, protecting kids from irreversible harm, that Republicans invoke when the cutting involves girls or transgender medical care.

If the outrage over child genital mutilation is genuine and not just a culture-war talking point aimed at the “right” enemies, then Wyoming Republicans should prove it where it’s easiest: stop making taxpayers fund non-therapeutic circumcisions through Medicaid.

Eighteen states have already dropped this coverage without banning the practice outright. Wyoming can and should do the same in the 2026 budget session.

Anything short of that makes the party’s stance look selective, convenient, and hollow.

Sincerely,

Nemo Jones, Cheyenne